It is known from prior art transport systems to transport an object via at least one mobile transport unit from e.g. a first entity to a further entity. Examples of objects to be transported which are not exhaustive are goods, freight, letters, animals or humans. The mobile transport unit used for transportation of at least one object may depend on the object type and/or amount of object. Examples of mobile transport units are all vehicles, such as cars, trucks, ships, railway vehicles, planes, bicycles, drones, etc.
A mobile transport unit can use at least one suitable transport channel of a transport network, such as suitable transport routs. It shall be understood that in order to transport an object from a first entity to a further entity one or more (different or equal) mobile transport units can be used. For instance, suitable delivery stations can be provided for delivering an object from a first mobile transport unit to a further mobile transport unit. An entity may be a building, a household, a plant or machine, an electronic unit, etc.
Common to all prior art transport systems are that the transport of the object is managed by a central transport provider entity. In particular, a first entity having a client device can communicate with a central server in order to generate an object transport agreement about the physical transport of the object at least partly by means of the mobile transport unit between the first entity and a further entity. Then the central server controls the at least one mobile transport unit such that the object is transported by the mobile transport unit.
A typical prior art system 100 is shown in FIG. 1. A first entity 102 and a further entity 104 are each connected to a physical transport channel network 112. For example, an object 110 should be transported from the first entity 102 to a further entity 104 by means of a mobile transport unit 108 using the physical transport channel network 112. By way of example, the first entity 102 may produce the object 110. Therefore, the first entity 102 can also be called a producer. The further entity 104 may consume the object 110. Thus, the further entity 104 may also be called a consumer. It shall be understood that an entity can be both producer and consumer, and thus, can be called prosumer.
As can be further seen from the FIG. 1, the mobile transport unit 108 is provided and controlled by a transport provide server 106. In order to use the mobile transport unit 108 for transporting the object 110, at least one of the entities 102, 104 comprises a client (not shown) configured to communicate with the server 106 via a communication connection 114, for example an internet connection.
This means that the central server 106 can, based on a query or request message from the client device of e.g. the first entity 102, generate an object transport agreement between the server 106 and the first entity 104 about the transport of the object 110 from the first entity 102 to the further entity 104 using the mobile transport unit 108. The object may then be transferred from the first entity 102 to the further entity 104 via the physical transport channel network 112 by means of the mobile transport unit 108. The billing of the transport of the object 110 is also carried out by the central instance 106.
The disadvantage of server-client structures of this kind, particularly the server (or platform), apart from the high transaction costs, is that the central instance or central server manages customer data. A persistent problem affecting the central instance is that of protecting the customer data stored on one server/a plurality of servers from access by unauthorized third parties. In particular, a high degree of security expenditure is required, in order to prevent customer data, billing data, forecast data, etc. from being tampered with. This in turn leads to higher transaction costs.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to provide a system which simplifies the generation of an object transport agreement and, at the same time, offers a high level of security.